Heaven or Hell
by lilian.wyler
Summary: Pos-Tartaros, Natsu goes for a year training with Happy, and he starts to realize what exactly his teammates meant to him. When he returns, he takes the task of bringing FT back, not knowing that Lucy had already started this six months ago. How will he manage his recently discovered feelings for her, especially when Zeref and Acnologia rise again? NaLu. T for language and romance.
1. 1 - Natsu

**A.N: Hi! So, I'm aware that I shouldn't be starting a new fiction with so many unfinished, but they're all being updated, and having more fictions keeps me from going through writer's block because whenever I feel like I'm not able to write a next chapter on one, I have another and it helps me getting inspired again.**

 **Anyways, this one has no OC's and is in the FT Universe.**

 **SPOILER ALERT : If you haven't finished Tartaros' arc, don't read. Unless you don't mind spoilers.**

 **On another note, this fiction follows the Avatar Arc through the end, but it won't go straight into Arbales' arc (filler arc within it before I head on to Arbales). Enjoy!** **J**

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 _"Do not shed tears. Hey… What do you do when you're sad? I taught you, didn't I?"_

 _"Yeah. I remember."_

 _"So do it. Stand up."_

 _"Okay."_

 _"I am with you... Now and always… Show me more of how you've grown… Show me the way you live your life…"_

 _"Got it."_

 _Natsu stood up, tears shedding through his face, but he barely felt them. He barely felt anything but the burning heat inside his chest, from pain, pride, hurt, determination mixing in altogether. Looking at the sky, hearing his father's voice, a new resolve burned within him._

 _"I will live on! I will become stronger and I'm gonna grind Acnologia's ass into dragon dust!" He shout at the sky, promising Igneel, himself, the world, that he'd be the one to avenge every single dragon whose soul Acnologia took. He'd avenge himself, and his guild mates, too._

 _"That's my boy… Speak of your future, and that shall become your will to live."_

Natsu remembered those words as if they had been engraved in his ears. They were definitely carved to his soul, his heart, and everything he did and said after the Tartaros outcome had been shadowed by them. All the time he spent looking for Igneel, all those years… And now it was over.

He repeated his promise in his mind, to become stronger, to end Acnologia, and Zeref, too, if needed. He'd end his father's journey, and he'd take down anything that got in his way, but for that…

"Happy." He spoke, rummaging through his and Happy's house, gathering money, food supplies, his blanket, and packing everything in his backpack. Happy watched him mutedly, probably afraid of saying something. The Exceed had been oddly quiet ever since that outcome. Had it been just a few hours? It felt like ages ago, and at the same time, like it had just happened. Natsu waved his confusion away. He hated being confused, which was why he never thought too much about stuff. He was a do or die kind of guy, and the over thinking things was Lucy's ability. "How much of our savings have we got left?" He asked, shaving his worries aside.

"13,000 jewels." He answered promptly.

"That's not much at all." Natsu complained, facing his blue companion.

"Aye. We'd have a lot more if our safe didn't get stolen, enough for 10 years worth of fish!" Happy declared, sounding irritated and worried, and to see him back to being himself made Natsu smile.

"Well, things will work out, right?" He smiled wider, and Happy mirrored him.

"Aye!"

"This is the real problem…" He muttered, lifting the note he'd written and carefully saved on the envelope. He wasn't one for writing, much less for sending any letters, but this was a different situation. He couldn't handle another goodbye, he'd had enough for one lifetime, but he needed to let them all know… He'd keep his promise, to all of them.

" _I will protect your future._ " He remembered his words to Future Lucy. Those words were the reason he chose her as the one he'd be sending the letter, that and the fact that if anyone was supposed to be the first to know what he was doing… Well, aside from Happy, he could only think of her.

He gave Happy the task of delivering the note without being spotted – he didn't want to cause a ruckus this time. He promised to wait for the exceed at the edge of town and they headed off opposite ways for a short time.

Happy didn't take long, and without looking back, he and Natsu started walking down a one-year training path.

"Sorry, everyone. I'm gonna get way, way stronger and then I'll be back. So I can really protect all of you." He promised, talking to himself while he and Happy walked away.

They headed to the mountains, and started on a intensive training there. Happy was mostly on support tasks, and while Natsu trained – sometimes even shutting himself up for a couple of days – the Exceed made sure they had provisions, a place to sleep and a way to feel as homely as possible in the middle of those mountains.

Days merged into weeks that soon turned into months. As they moved up, Happy complained about being hungry, and Natsu spotted a giant creature that he declared to be their lunch.

"Natsu, wait…" Happy called, as Natsu launched against the creature, sending it down with a single hit and causing a cloud of dust around them. "He trains and gets stronger, but he's always hitting first thing." The exceed sighed, flying after him within the dust and seeing him celebrating upon the creature's body. Looking like that, it looked rather a delicious meal, and both Happy and Natsu were salivating.

That's when they heard a familiar voice, and looked up to find a surprised Gildarts.

"No way!" Natsu exclaimed, and smiled excitedly. Happy hadn't seen that smile since they headed off Magnolia.

"Yo, Natsu! How ya' doing?" Gildarts asked, with an equally happy smile playing on his face.

The three of them celebrated that night. They fought, ate and took a hot spring bath before finally falling asleep (after another fight).

Natsu saw Gildarts and Happy finally drifting off, both peacefully asleep, and looked up at the sky. It was starry tonight, probably the starriest night in a long while. A falling star brought his mind back to the night Lucy was falling from the sky, and he managed to catch her in time. It was starry then, too. Actually, the explosion she had created made it look like hundreds of stars were falling then, and amongst them, there she was…

He stood up, breathing fast, confused at the path his thoughts were taking. Thinking about Magnolia had become a current thing, he'd always have the guild in his thoughts and his heart. More often, even, than Igneel. That confused him, too: Igneel had been his main worry and the single constant thing on his mind ever since July 7th 777. After Tartaros, after the outcome, his line of thoughts changed completely, and Fairy Tail started sharing the spotlight within him, along with his promise and his father's last words.

Lucy, though, had never appeared like that in his mind. He remembered the strawberry and vanilla scent, her smiling at him when he caught her on that night of falling stars. She was smiling like that when he caught her on Phantom's headquarters, too… The girl had barely known him then, she was still hiding her entire life from the guild, and yet she had the same trust in her eyes as ever.

Lisanna used to smile at him all the time, too. She called herself his fiancée all the time, and it annoyed him. He wondered if he could ever see her like that, but she was just a friend, a great friend that had returned from Edolas. He remembered how he felt seeing her there, and back at Earth: happy, glad, relieved, complete. But no… Even then, whatever he felt didn't make him see her like something other than a friend.

Somehow, Lucy's smile flashed in his mind again. He made his way up the mountain and sat down at the edge of the cliff, from where he could face the waterfalls. It was a soothing place, much like the thermals near Warrod's house.

Lucy and Wendy had been there, too, along with Erza. He tensed remembering how things turned out with him and Erza that night, but a slow smile crossed his face when he remembered Lucy and Wendy. The two girls had been so uncomfortable with his presence (and the freezing bastard's, too) there. As if he hadn't seen Lucy naked before. He rolled his eyes, as a numerous set of events flashed through them, all of which the girl had been naked before him.

"What the hell?" He cursed, shaking his head again, and looked up at the sky.

 _I'm definitely defeating Acnologia. Are you watching, dad?_ He thought, passing a number of training schedules through his head, taking mental notes of them.

Movement caught his hearing and he smelled Gildarts approaching him.

"I wondered where you'd gone off to." The old man said, approaching him. "May I sit?"

"Sure." Natsu nodded, his head distant.

"What's eating you up? You're not the type to stay awake at night worrying about stuff."

Natsu hesitated. What _was_ eating him up? Igneel? Well, that was a given, but he didn't think anything could change how he felt. His lack of strength? That wasn't it, either. He wanted to become stronger in order to defeat the black dragon, yes, but being unable to do it didn't automatically mean he was weak, and he definitely wasn't insecure. Being alone, maybe…

"I used to do everything on my own." He muttered, feeling like a bystander, watching himself talk from outside of his body. Still, he let the words flow. "The reason the Old Man brought me to Fairy Tail was to give me a new reason to live, I was obsessed with finding Igneel. That didn't change, but the guild gave me a new vision of life. I had a home to go back to, but my goal was still finding my father, getting him back. Now… It's over. And I'm on my own again, this time in a world without dragons. This time, it bothers me."

Gildarts looked at him fondly, but as he looked back, his eyes hid his emotions behind a cool demeanor. The older mage knew Natsu enough to see he'd not respond well to being looked at as a kid.

"I never thought I'd hear so many words coming from you without an invitation to fight you amongst them."

"Hey!"

"My bad… Who said you're alone, kid? Don't you have an entire guild now? Everyone in Fairy Tail is here for you. How is that being on your own?"

"A guild I can't protect, I should have been able to protect them." Natsu grumbled. "I found out that Erza and Mira had been captured, and I just got myself captured too. Lisanna was there, we escaped, and then one of those bastards came at me and Lucy. Lucy got hurt, and I couldn't help her. I couldn't help her in Tenrou Island, either." He set his fist on fire before calming down a little. "Lucy, Elfman, Lisanna, Erza, Mira, Gray, Wendy… They were all hurt, and I couldn't do a thing. I couldn't defeat Mard Geer without Igneel and Gray's help. I need to become stronger before I can go back to the guild."

His eyes acquired a different glow as he spoke, and his words were steadier, but his heart was still on the edge. Gildarts watched his friend, who had been the son he'd never had, looking at the starry sky. Sighing, he messed with the flame head's hair, easing him off, knowing that no words would have any effects on him now.

"Tell you what, I'll fight you tomorrow and when you come back from your year training, and we'll see how stronger you've gotten, kid." He decided, and Natsu's usual cheer and carelessness reappeared in his smile. They went back to sleep, and in the following day, he fulfilled his promise.

Natsu and Happy left Gildarts with renewed stamina. The dragon slayer had fought the S-Class Mage and moved him further back than the time they fought in Tenrou Island, which meant he was at least stronger than that time. Then Gildarts showed his true power – well, a little bit of it – by blowing up a monster and an entire mountain along, but who cared about details like that?

They decided to have a snack and he emptied the contents of his backpack, feeling all the blood leave his face when, instead of their stuff, they saw a bunch of magazines. Mira was posing in one of them, and seeing her (half-naked) picture made that odd feeling in his stomach return.

"Lucy!" Happy exclaimed, as a picture of Lucy in bikini wear appeared within the pages of one of the magazines. Natsu was about to pick it up when Gildarts appeared, furious, and tackled him to get his stuff back. Natsu fought back to see that specific picture, but the older mage beat him and left with the stuff, leaving Natsu and Happy's bag behind.

"Why was Lucy on a magazine?" He asked Happy. "She's never acted like she wanted to pose."

"Aye! It must give her money for fish!" Happy guessed, and Natsu looked back to where Gildarts had headed off.

He wondered what his guild mates had been doing all this time. It had been two months, he still had ten to go, but it still felt odd being far from everyone.

"Remember when we were a team, Happy? Just us two?" He asked his blue friend, who nodded.

"Aye! Before Hargeon Port and Bora of Prominence."

"After Lisanna, too." He added, thinking about the not-so-dead take-over mage.

"Lisanna was never on our team, Natsu. She was on Mira's and Elfman's." Happy reminded him.

"Really?" He asked, looking forward. It always felt like she was. True, Lisanna never teamed up with him on a job, partly because they were both young, and also because Mira offered harder jobs, giving her sister a chance to grow further in strength. Natsu and Happy had always traveled alone. Gray used to team up with Loke back then, and Erza… Erza was a solo mage, too, probably because of her ghosts. Wendy hadn't joined the guild yet, Juvia and Gajeel were from Phantom…

 _A lot changed in this past year… No, years, if I consider the 7-year time lapse._

"Natsu, why are you thinking again? Don't think, it's scary!" Happy complained, and Natsu growled.

"Hey! What's that supposed to mean?"

"You don't think, Natsu! It's not you!"

"I think like everyone, too!" He complained.

"No, you don't!"

 _"_ _Help!"_

Natsu stopped to a halt, focusing on his hearing.

"What's wrong, Natsu?" Happy inquired.

" _Come on, beauty! Master Flinn will love to see you again. Did you think you could steal from him and run?"_

 _"_ _Let me go!"_

Natsu hurried up the mountain, reaching a large road and seeing a woman cornered against a carriage by three men holding guns. She had tears in her blue eyes, and a terrified expression. Her eyes widened slightly as she saw him, and one of the trio turned around.

"What do we have here?" He asked, facing Natsu. "Move along, brat, this is nothing you have to worry about."

"She doesn't want to go with you." He spoke, looking at the man with disdain.

"She doesn't need to want."

The three and the dragon slayer engaged in a fight, and two of them turned out to be mages, but Natsu managed to take them down. When he moved to talk to the woman, she backed away, looking scared at him, which bothered him.

 _Lucy looked happy when I saved her on Hargeon_. He thought.

They parted ways, with her taking the carriage and fleeing from there. Natsu and Happy resumed their walk up the mountain and found a suitable spot to set their camping. For the next ten months, he'd train there with the exceed, occasionally meddling with thieves that attempted to rob passengers on that same road. His hearing improved, and soon he was able to hear the road without needing to focus, and smell the amount of people there. As his senses got better, so did his magic, and he remembered that Igneel always alternated sense heightening lessons with magic lessons. Now it made sense of why.

His mind eased off as his body was exhausted everyday, and soon that thing bothering him was gone, replaced by occasional dreams and nightmares. Some were meaningless, about the guild, old missions, and even about his childhood. Some involved his father, and a different reality where he wasn't gone.

 _"_ _I made new friends." He told Igneel, sitting beside his wing. "Erza's scary, Gray's a jerk, Wendy's like a little sister, Lucy's noisy and weird. There's Happy, too. He came from a dragon egg."_

 _"_ _A cat came from a dragon egg?"_

 _"_ _Yeah! Lisanna helped hatching him. He was sent from this world, Edolas, where…"_

He woke up before the story was finished, and those were the dreams that made waking up so much harder. Training got his good mood back, but sleeping gave him stuff to think about, and he hated having to think too hard.

Whereas dreams involved Igneel, nightmares were about Acnologia, Zeref, Future Rogue, Gray, Frosch and Lucy, both his Lucy and Future Lucy.

" _What did you do to Lucy?" He asked Future Rogue, infuriated._

 _"_ _I'm right here, Natsu!" Future Lucy spoke, smiling at him, leaning into Future Rogue's arms. Rage stirred within him._

 _"_ _Not you, my Lucy!" He shouted, igniting in flames and launching at Future Rogue, watching as Gray disposed of Frosch's body._

He woke up sweating then.

 _My Lucy? The hell?_ He wondered to himself, thinking about his best friend for the hundredth time. He had given up not thinking of her, and convinced himself that the only reason she was in his head more often than the rest of the guild, was that she was the one he'd grown closer to. She was part of the reason he had a team now, no, she was the main reason. Erza, Gray, they came along, but Lucy was always there. She was like a binding person to them all.

That was why he thought of her: she marked the time when he changed from a solo mage to one with a team, with closer friends. She was noisy, weird, and spent a lot of time yelling at him…

"Damn." He muttered, getting up and going outside his and Happy's cave (he'd blown up a part of the mountain to make that cave) for some air. There was a couple hiking on that mountain, and he could hear them…

His ears burned from what he heard and smelled, and he went back into the cave in a sour mood.

Apart from those events, training was methodically right. He'd grown stronger and more mature, too. When one year passed, he looked at Happy.

"Time to go back, Happy!" He announced, and the two of them started their trip back to civilization. Once they reached Hargeon, they saw, through a transmission lacrima, that the Grand Magic Games were up, and it was the final day. As an idea flashed in his head, he decided to head down to Crocus first thing.

He wore a black cape covering his entire self, along with a white stripe of cloth, which allowed him to put his plan in motion.

He and Happy arrived in Crocus as the final matches ended, and he smiled wickedly.

"Natsu, maybe you shouldn't…" Happy tried to warn him, but he increased his body temperature, making sure that Happy wasn't harmed, and blew up the domus flau, creating a ruckus. The winning guild launched at him, but he took them down easily, too, burning away everyone's clothes in the process.

 _I saw and heard people doing stuff to each other all the time, my turn to see girls without their clothes_.

A familiar vanilla and strawberry smell caught his attention, and he froze internally when he heard a more than familiar yelling.

"What is this heat?!" He heard her voice, and inadvertedly smiled, letting his hood slowly fall down. "Heat?" The voice repeated, and he finally uncovered himself, exposing his bandaged arms and legs and his bare chest.

Lucy froze in her place, her eyes going extremely wide, up from a spectator's site. He kept staring forward.

"Natsu?!"

 _Well, at least she didn't see me freezing, too_. He thought, hiding his thoughts behind his confident smile as people acknowledged him everywhere. He had missed feeling that fired up, or having that kind of fun.

He heard Happy filling Lucy in on what he was doing while he challenged the entire arena and took them all down. When he practically melted the entire arena, sending everyone away scared, he looked up, and his smile faded for a moment.

 _Lucy_.

Seeing her again brought back every thought he'd had of her during the year away. No, it brought back everything he felt, the confusion, the lack of understanding over his body and mind… Only now he understood, and it bothered him and enticed him at the same time.

 _Keep it to yourself_. He reminded himself, and, seeing the scared look in her eyes, he opened a wide smile at her.

"Yo, it's been a while, hasn't it? Lucy!"

Her small smile made his day.

"You okay?" She asked, and he grinned.

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 **A.N: So, that's it. Next chapter is a rewrite too, and after that I'll add non-canon stuff, but I needed to set the scenario right. Hope you liked it.**


	2. 2 - Lucy

**A.N: Hi! So, this chapter is fast and also within the Manga, but the next one starts changing things further (the beginning will have a lot on their feelings and mind so I can settle the ground for action - yes, there'll be action). Still, this one already changes from the story slightly ^^**

 **Hope you like it. X**

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Lucy had never thought she'd live to see the end of Fairy Tail.

She also never thought she'd see half the stuff she saw, or go through anything she went through, during Tartaros. She shivered everytime she thought about those hellish days and the outcome. Aquarius, then Natsu left... Finally, Makarov disbanded the guild.

They all fought the idea of disbanding for a while, but the master was firm in his decision, and after a while, the members began to realize they could use some lone time, too.

Macao, Wakaba and the group that had stayed behind during the Tenrou incident was the first to leave. Lucy felt for them, because after struggling to keep the guild up for seven long sorrowful years, they watched it end anyway. It had to hurt.

Gray was second, and he practically disappeared. Juvia, too, but that she would go after him was a given. Erza and Jellal headed off somewhere, and Lucy guessed that Titania would be joining Crime Sorciere for a while. Cana was a little bit more reluctant, complaining that she'd never get money to drink her booze, and in the guild, she never paid.

She had to leave either way. Ever, Bickslow and Freed were next, looking like they had just cried. Lucy wondered why they were leaving without Laxus, and she saw their leader practically sneaking off, disappearing in a lightening strike.

That had to be a nightmare, right?

The waking up never happened. One by one, they left. Mira, Lisanna and Elfman were the second last, leaving only Lucy, Wendy and Carla behind.

The little girl looked down, fighting her tears, and Lucy wondered how she'd be feeling. She had just found and lost her dragon, too. Lucy remembered how keen on finding Igneel Natsu was, and she knew Wendy would be just as close to Grandeeney as the flame dragon slayer was to his father. She was probably hurt, too, and to watch the guild disband on top of everything...

Lucy fought her own pain so she could say her next words.

"Wendy-chan..." She called, and the young girl looked up at her. "W-Why don't we reach out to Lamia Scale?" Wendy blinked, confused. "That's Chelia-chan's guild, isn't it? Haven't you become friends?"

Wendy's eyes flashed a gleam of hope at Lucy's words, and they headed to Lamia Scale's town, taking a fast trip there. The members took Wendy cheerfully in, making sure not to mention much about Fairy Tail disbanding near her. Chelia and Lyon were especially sweet.

"Where are you going, Lucy-san?" Wendy inquired, curious.

"Jason from the Weekly Sorcerer reached out to me, saying they want me for a job." She told Wendy. "I think I'll head down to Crocus and see how it turns out. But keep in touch, ok?" She smiled and Wendy hugged her, thanking her before they parted ways. It gave Lucy a slight feeling of relief to know that the Sky Dragon Slayer would eventually be ok.

They would all probably be ok.

 _I'm the only one alone._

Fighting the sour thoughts, she headed to Crocus.

Weeks passed, turning into months, and Lucy upgraded her job from bikini model to writer. She followed every guild member from afar, putting together news on them all over her board. Wendy and Chelia were often reported as Lamia Scale's angels, and apparently they made a good team, too, because Lucy caught word of many jobs done by "the sky sisters".

Cana was being tracked by at least two bar owners of small towns, apparently for drinking and leaving. Gildarts destroyed a town without noticing it - he probably _still_ didn't know about it - and Mirajane often appeared in magazines serving drinks. Apparently, she and her siblings had moved on and were now servicing at a huge restaurant in Hargeon.

She read nothing on Gray, Juvia, or Natsu and Happy. There was a sighting of a woman in armor arguing with a baker, which sounded like Erza, but she couldn't be sure. Levy had joined the Council.

 _Everyone really moved on_.

Lucy started training, too. She'd summon Capricorn, Loki or Virgo everyday to teach her more about her magic while increasing her magical power and resistance. It was an arduous job, especially due to her short time, but she managed, and seeing her spirits made her feel safe. At least she wasn't alone.

Loke had been an amazing friend. Virgo, Capricorn, Aries and the others were amazing, of course, but the former Fairy Tail member knew better than the others how Lucy felt. They talked every night before she went to sleep, and he often had to close his own gate, but he never complained. He seemed glad that she was ok. She remembered him and Virgo fighting at Tartaros, and then Aquarius...

Six months passed without anything different. Her days became ordinary, and kind of boring. She missed her friends, her old life.

 _"Mommy, mommy, there's a crab in my room!"_

 _"That's not a crab, sweetie, it's Cancer. He's Aquarius' friend, and he's here because you said you wanted to cut your hair."_

 _"He's Aquarius friend?"_

 _"Yes." Layla's smile soothed the little girl's fear, and she walked with her mother to properly greet the crab-who-was-friends-with-Aquarius._

Lucy woke up from her dream with a sad feeling. She had been dreaming of her childhood since they disbanded, and dreams with the stellar spirits and her mother were ever frequent, but they never ceased to make her feel nostalgic when she woke up. She restarted writing letters to her mother – a habit she had quit after the Grand Magic Games and Eclipse, focusing solemnly on her novels instead. Now, alone, the letters became her therapy again.

She missed Magnolia, her house, arriving to find Gray, Erza, Natsu and Happy sprawled on her couch or, in Natsu's case, on her bed. She missed those noisy but fun days, because they passed like a flash, and she was never sad for too long with them around. She even missed Tenrou Island, despite the entire ruckus Grimoire Heart caused, because they'd been together there.

 _Fairy Tail had been a dream since I was little. When I met Natsu and he brought me to the guild, I felt happy like I hadn't felt in a long time, mom. No, who am I kidding? I felt happy for the first time since you were gone. The heartache from running away from home, the fear of Father finding me and managing to get me, it all just disappeared, because I was finally there, and they were everything I always expected. They were more, even. Noisy, disastrous, but they shared a bond that had no precedents._

 _""It's for my friends! For seven years...all that time...they waited for us! It was hard on them... They had sad times... They got humiliated, but they just endured it... And kept protecting the guild... It's for my friends! I want to show them...that Fairy Tail will live on! That's why I gotta move forward!" Natsu said those words on the Grand Magic Games, Chariot event, to explain to Sting why he was so bent on winning. He's always giving speeches on friendship and life, on how nakama are important and how the guild is his family. Erza, too, used to say and do the impossible for her friends. Gray, who was able to put all his differences towards Natsu aside to help him as a comrade when needed. Mira, Cana, Elfman… Everyone was always close, no matter how much they fought. That's what I loved about the guild, that feeling that the world could crumble, but Fairy Tail would be together._

 _Why are we not together anymore, mom? Why do I feel like this all the time now, so hopeless?_

Lucy saved the letter in her box and pulled a silver key from her keyring.

" **Open, door to the locker, Chinx.** " A key-like spirit appeared and locked her box. It had been her most recent acquisition: the things locked by Chinx could only be unlocked with his key.

She closed the spirit's gate and looked at the outside, taking in the blue sky. Sighing, and forcing a smile on her face, she left for work, and arrived at the magazine five minutes earlier.

Before she entered, though, someone pulled at her arm and practically carried her onto an empty alley. Lucy quickly grabbed her keys and was ready to open a gate, when she recognized her "captor".

" _Laxus_?" She widened her eyes, taking in the blond dragon slayer, his serious, tense expression and posture. "W-What…"

"I saw the board in your room." He spoke in a low voice.

She blinked.

"In my… _When were you in my room?!"_ She shouted the question, freaking out and blushing violently. He rubbed his forehead to keep his temper, obviously annoyed.

"Doesn't matter, Lucy. I need your help."

Lucy looked at the sky, certain that rain would start pouring soon. Certainly it would start raining exceeds before _Laxus_ asked _anyone_ for help… and why her?

"Where are the Thunder God Tribe?" She inquired suspiciously.

"Around, training. I haven't seen them since that day." He told her and her heart ached at the mention of that fatidic day. "I want to bring the guild back."

"Wait… What?" Lucy was astounded.

"You heard me." He rolled his eyes. "I'm bringing it back, so the old man can either suck it up and return, or we can move on and find a way without him as Master. I don't know how to handle the paperwork, it's dull and annoying."

Lucy couldn't believe her own ears.

"Breathe." He instructed her, and she realized she'd been holding her breath. "I saw the board, you've been keeping an eye for everyone. I assumed that if anyone could help me, it would be you. Besides, Natsu used to say you were the one who did the thinking on his Team."

Lucy blushed slightly at his last remark.

"I can get the paperwork with Levy-chan." She spoke, after a while in silence, but he vehemently shook his head.

"Don't get anyone in on this until we're ready to call them back. We don't need the brats getting their hopes up to be disappointed."

 _But you don't mind me being disappointed?_

She swallowed her sour thoughts: that wasn't like her, but then, neither was being alone.

"I'll see what I can do." She promised, and Laxus handed her a silver key. She frowned, looking at it. "What…"

"I heard this one is a sort of messenger." He explained, pointing at the key. "Use it to contact me."

He disappeared in a flash of lightning, startling her, and leaving her alone in the alley with a new silver key. Sighing, she added it to her keyring, deciding to make the contract later. Heading inside the building, she sent a letter to Warrod, knowing he'd been working on the Council for a while, and hoping that he could keep a secret.

She spent the next weeks dealing with paperwork, with Warrod's secret help (she feared Laxus' disapproval of her choice, and the Ishgar God agreed to keep things low until they turned out successful), and sent them forward to Laxus, with detailed explanations on what to sign and why. The stellar spirit he gave her was Apus, the bird of paradise. It was her prettiest spirit by far, a small bird with colored feathers, and a black body. It flew fast and disappeared, being able to carry messages within a limited distance – Laxus was staying in Crocus, so it was ok. For whatever reason, he didn't want her to meet him in person.

So they communicated, and she settled everything burocratic-wise down. Once all the paperwork was settled, all that was left was to rebuild the guild and reach out for the members.

Laxus said he'd take care of rebuilding, and they agreed that she'd go to Magnolia every weekend and get Virgo to lend them a hand. That gave her a second purpose, and finally something to look up for every week.

The final day of the Grand Magic Games was supposed to be Lucy's last day in Crocus, too, since she and Laxus would finally start reaching out for the Fairy Tail members. The guild was up and ready, with a few improvements, and she felt excited about going – and bored about the Games, that had been extremely dull. The guilds had none of the energy that the previous Game's contestants had. Sabertooth, Mermaid Heel, Lamia Scale, Blue Pegasus, none of them joined in.

She watched the winning guild celebrate in boredom, having already predicted that outcome, and she planned on leaving when the explosion and the challenger happened. A man in a black cape, emanating an amazing amount of magical power. Suddenly, he had taken down all the winning team's members.

Lucy called at Jason to evacuate the place, feeling the extreme heat and her clothes suddenly melting.

 _"Heat?"_ She thought to herself, looking at the arena.

The cape slipped from the Challenger's body, finally exposing the pink hair, the confident smile and…

"Natsu?!" She felt her breath leaving her, freezing up in her place, looking down at the center of the arena.

"Long time no see, Lucy!" Happy's voice startled her, coming from behind. She half turned to see the blue exceed flying to be at her eye level.

"Happy! What's…"

"Well, Natsu you see, at any cost… Just had to see what the champions of the tournament were made of, so…" Happy sighed.

"They've all already been flattened, though…" Lucy commented, rolling her eyes, and looking back down to see him finishing his job with the rest of the arena.

As he destroyed the entire arena, Happy muttered something about him not learning to hold back, and the dragon slayer finally looked up. His serious expression, added by the feelings of seeing him and Happy after all that time, made her shiver and recoil, wondering what he'd do.

The bright smile he flashed her told her they'd be ok.

"Yo, it's been a while, hasn't it? Lucy!"

Her small smile made his day.

"You okay?" She asked, and he grinned at her.

"Hold it right there, sir!" Suddenly, members of the royal army appeared around him, and he swallowed dry, standing down. Lucy bit her lip, watching him being taken and wondering which of them were in most danger: Natsu, of being arrested, or the army, of being destroyed.

She went home to change her clothes while Happy followed his best friend. Knowing that it would take some time before Natsu's sentence was issued, she put on a simple black shirt and white skirt. Wondering what the day would bring, she headed down to Castle Mercurius, arriving in time to see both Natsu and Happy leaving, with a bunch of angry guards yelling something at him.

She smiled, that was so expected of them.

"Looks like you got acquitted." She spoke, looking at him.

"Lucy! You came to see us all by yourself?" Natsu asked, his face always light and bright.

"Why isn't the rest of Fairy Tail with you?" Happy asked curiously.

Lucy looked down, feeling the familiar sorrow deep in her chest. Fighting the ghosts Happy's question brought, she sighed.

"That's right… You don't know, do you…?" She couldn't bear the expectant looks in their faces. "The guild… We… It disbanded." She spoke, in a barely audible whisper, but to Natsu's ears it was loud enough.

He froze, and for the first time in a long one, Lucy saw something in his eyes as the light faded from them. She frowned: was it fear?

But it was gone too fast, and she decided she should be imagining things.

"You look like you could use something to eat." She spoke, trying to lighten up the mood. "Why don't we seat in a restaurant and talk?" Turning around, she grabbed Apus' key and summoned it. "Can you deliver a message to another town?"

"Biiiz." Apus answered in his own language. It was almost like talking to Plue, but somehow she understood: Yes. Smiling, she sent the bird away, feeling a little proud at herself for her own improvements: sending a stellar spirit, even if a small one, to another town was something new to her.

She and Natsu headed down to a restaurant, both of them lost in thoughts.

* * *

 **That's it for today... Tomorrow will be a longer chapter. Xoxo ^^**


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